


Perfect Autumn Day

by DeepDisiresLonging



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Books, Bookstores, F/M, Fluff, Food, fall festival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 20:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20711993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeepDisiresLonging/pseuds/DeepDisiresLonging
Summary: Prompt: “I was thinking that Reader & Elias have been together about a year (married) almost 2 & he’s deeply in love with her? 😊 Anyway- it’s Autumn and they go do all these warm activities together ( Wine tasting, visiting Cafe’s, pumpkin picking, etc ) & they come across a little outside book loft & she’s just rly excited looking at all of the books and he finds it absolutely adorable & just warm fluffy vibes 😊💕”





	Perfect Autumn Day

As soon as the leaves started to change colors, you made plans. In the town that you and Elias had made your home, autumn had pleasurable possibilities. Guaranteed. He knew the season had arrived when you unpacked your sweaters.

As the wind started to pick up a chill as it whistled through the air, the town began to change. Lampposts were decorated in garlands of orange and gold leaves. Stores had blackberry and pumpkin-flavored treat in their windows. Doors had crackly branches over their welcoming bells, and they were opened by friendly faces. Red and crunchy brown leaves lined the streets. They swirled and whispered across the pavement as the days burned shorter and the nights waned longer.

Then, as the calendar rotated to the official first day of fall, the town came to life.

The “Mt. Holly Autumn Festival” sign usually raised a few eyebrows on visitor’s faces. The winter decorations were famous, but your favorite time of the year was now. The shop fronts all in a line made for easy coming and going. Main Street was closed to through traffic for a weekend so outlying and traveling businesses could set up booths. From apple cider to cinnamon clusters to warm scarves and knit hats, this year’s delights were easy to find.

Elias held your hand as you walked between the booths. Mrs. Abernathy had a jewelry stand this year, her spoon art proudly on display. Across the way, her rival and husband, Mr. Abernathy, had set up his stand selling miniature pumpkins grown in their backyard. Elias bought you a quiet silver spoon earing set, and you bought tiny pumpkins to start decorating the house with. It was the perfect weekend for the event. The winter chill wasn’t supposed to arrive for another couple weeks, and the summer heat had dissipated finally. The whole town was out and about to find their goodies too.

You waved to your neighbors as they struggled to haul their children away from the chocolate stand.

“Can we circle back later?” you whispered to Elias.

He followed your gaze and saw the army of chocolate frogs on the table. “Of course. Only if we can drop back by Ms. Heathrow’s booth.”

“You need another scarf?”

“Baron ripped one last week.”

“Fair enough. We’ll go back then.” You smiled up at him and accepted his short and sweet kiss.

Every year you could spend a fortune helping your local businesses thrive. Everyone knew everyone, and each person you passed waved or nodded their head at you. A few came over and welcomed you to the town again. A couple of years ago, it had been the setting for your wedding. When it came time to find a house and merge your two apartments officially, Mt. Holly was the place to stay. Far enough away from the big city to relax. Close enough for wrestling travel.

“But my favorite part of coming home every week,” Elias was telling one couple, “is seeing Y/N sitting on the porch reading when I pull into the drive.” He chuckled. “Sometimes she doesn’t even see me, she’s so enthralled in a story.”

You blushed and hid your face behind his shoulder.

The couple shared a look. The wife (Karen?) linked arms with her husband and suggested, “then you might want to steer her away from the end of the row. There’s a new book shop going in where the Starbucks used to be.”

“Good riddance,” the husband said. “Finally kicked out-“

“Hush.” She giggled. “We’ll be seein’ you. Enjoy your day.”

You said your goodbyes and continued to the cider stand. The rush had moved on, so you were served quickly. With the spice tickling your nose and the warmth settling into your skin, you raised on your tiptoes to look over the meandering crowd. You could just barely see the last stall on the end. It had a table set out covered in boxes. Dropping back down, you sipped your drink.

“Do you want to go straight there?” Elias said, eyeing you over his cup of mocha mint tea (mint tea + hot chocolate mix, his guilty pleasure).

“No. We’ll get there eventually.”

The next few stalls were filled with knick-knacks for home décor and Halloween preparations. Usually your favorite portion of the festival, you found yourself looking for the booth. The books called to you. Would they still be open when you got there? What kind of bookstore was it? New releases only, or the kind where you could smell the adventure in the dusty air?

You quickly refocused on a sprig of lavender when Elias caught you peeking.

“Do you want to go there?”

“Not yet.” You set the spring down and tugged your sleeves down over your chilled fingers. “If I get to looking at books, we probably won’t leave until close. And you wanted to look at scarves again.”

“And you wanted a chocolate frog.”

“Exactly.”

The next booth was blankets. But Elias wasn’t looking at them. He was looking at you. Finally, he took your hand and started to pull you towards the end of Main Street. Once you figured out his destination, you smiled.

“What happened to scarf hunting?”

“Ms. Heathrow will be open next week. I’ll drag you in there then”

He laughed as you started to drag him.

Yes! Going by the selection, it was your favorite kind of bookstore. A hidden treasures kind. The books in the boxes were older. Some of the lettering on their spines had rubbed away. None of them had plot descriptions, forcing you to open their covers and read the first paragraph to see if you were interested. And there were dozens of them. Red leather bindings. Crackling green covers. Odd chamomile ribbons that stuck out from the pages like a reminder of how far it had had been traveled. You flitted from box to box. Sometimes you saw a title you knew and opened to a page so you could reminisce. Others you had heard of the author, but never touched their work because there was so much to read.

All the while, Elias sat on the front steps of the yet unopened shop front and watched you. He sipped the last of his cider with a smile. He thought about the wall-to-wall shelves in the living room. Because the house was still fairly new to you, not every space was filled with a book. Not yet. His selections mingled with yours. No rhyme. No rhythm. But you both knew exactly where each book was. Including the one he bought for you on your first date. And the one you bought for him. He’d read his nearly to tatters, loving that you knew exactly what he liked only after a dinner conversation.

The store owner wrapped up with another customer and walked over to you. “Are you finding everything okay? If you have anything already picked out, I can hold them for you by the register.”

You blushed. Did you have anything picked out? If you had enough cash, you’d buy the whole table. “Thank you. I haven’t picked anything yet. I might have to wait until you’re open so I can really explore. When will that be?”

“Not for another week or so. I was shooting for today, but most of my shelves aren’t in yet.” They nodded at the store. “But once we are open, there will be space to read so you can try out the book first. And we’ll have a trade-in spot too. I would like to do a one-for-one deal, but I need to make money somehow.”

That made you giggle. Looking at Elias, he knew you were hooked on the store. “You picked a good spot,” you said. “Across the way is the best coffee in the county. And next door is the deli. The best sandwich deals happen on Thursday.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

Looking up, the sky was beginning to darken. Any minute now the lamps would illuminate, and the festival would die down. Elias walked over and wrapped an arm around your waist, kissing your forehead. “Did you find anything you can’t live without for a few weeks?”

You bit your lip, looking over the table. So many. “You know me. I could walk out with any of them.” Glancing up from under your eyelids, “pick one for me?”

“Only one?”

“I’m in the middle of one right now.”

“Alright.”

Elias glanced over the boxes. He was a stickler for books too. Many an afternoon had been passed sitting on opposite ends of the couch with your feet entwined under a throw blanket. Or he would write his music. He picked up a blue tome with bright yellow lettering on the spine. _The Chasm_ by Victor Canning.

The owner smiled. “Ooh, good pick. A love triangle novel set in post-world war two Italy. Best suspense ending I’ve read in a while.”

After paying them, you walked away with the new book in one hand, and Elias’s hand in the other. He kept squeezing your hand in that silent conversation you’d taught to one another.

** _Love me?_ ** _ Sure do. **How Much?**_

You squeezed as hard as you could to pass the love along. Then you started it.

_Love me?** Sure do.** How Much?_

Elias squeezed hard, but gentle enough not to hurt you.

By then, most of the shops were closed up for the night. They would open again for a full day tomorrow, Saturday. But it would be super crowded then, too. Elias pulled you to a stop in front of the chocolate stand. There were two frogs left.

“But you already bought me a book.”

“Are you sure? Maybe I picked it for me.” He pinned your arms to your sides with a hug from behind. “Or maybe I’m going to read it first so I can watch you react to the suspense I’ll know is coming. Maybe spoil it-“

“Don’t you dare!” you gasped. You wiggled in his grasp. “I’ll hide your new scarf.”

“That’ll be hard to do since I don’t have it yet.” He lifted you into the air so your feet couldn’t touch the ground.

“Elias-“ you whined. You swung your feet like a child. “Please put me down. I won’t hide your scarf.”

He rumbled a laugh and set you on your feet. “And I won’t spoil the ending. Two chocolate frogs please.”

Final treats bagged and ready to go, he wrapped his arm around your shoulder. “Let’s go home. This feels like a wine and roasted marshmallow kind of night.”

At home, Elias set up the first log fire of the season while you gathered the supplies and built the pillow nest on the floor. The frogs were gobbled down with the marshmallows and washed down with Elias’s choice of wine. Then you laid there and read your book while Elias worked on his song for his work week. Outside the leaves rustled in the autumn wind. It was hours before the fire died down. And hours before you curled up together in bed, ready for sleep at the end of a perfect first autumn day.


End file.
